The Sports Injury Women Are More Likely to Get

Plus, what you can do to lower your risk

The Sports Injury Women Are More Likely to GetPlus, what you can do to lower your risk

It’s been known for a while that women are more likely to injure their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) than men. As it turns out, that may be because women are more likely to come down from a jump in a “knock-kneed” position, according to recent research out of Oregon State University and two campuses of the University of North Carolina.

For the study, which was published in the Journal of Athletic Training, researchers recruited 82 physically active people (41 men and 41 women) to participate in a jumping task. The researchers looked at how the participants moved when they jumped and landed using motion analysis equipment.

How Women Land Differently
Women and men were equally likely to land stiff-legged, not bending their knees to absorb a sufficient amount of the force.

However, women were much more likely—3.6 times as likely—to land with their knees pointing in, with the force moving in that direction. Why might that be? You can probably blame the hips: The researchers didn’t measure the participants’ hip widths, but, “anatomically, women tend to have wider hips than men,” says lead study author Marc Norcross, PhD, a certified athletic trainer and an assistant professor in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University. “And that tends to give women more of that knock-knee just in standing.”

The researchers observed that these two types of landings—landing stiff-legged and landing knock-kneed—were independent of one another. So, for example, if you land knock-kneed, that doesn’t mean you have a higher likelihood of also landing stiff-legged, and vice versa. For that reason, they hypothesized that people who use both are at the highest risk of injuring their ACLs. And since women are more likely than guys to land knock-kneed, it would follow that they’re more likely to boast that bad-landing combination—potentially the reason behind why women have a higher risk of an ACL injury.

How to Land Safely
People who experience ACL injuries tend to be the ones who do a lot of running and cutting—athletes who play basketball, soccer, tennis, and lacrosse, for example. If you’re just working out at the gym, you’re not at a high risk for an ACL tear. Still, perfecting your jump form could save you from other types of pain or injuries, says Norcross. So—no matter your sport of choice—take note:

The key to tweaking your landing is being aware of how you’re doing it, says Norcross. He suggests watching yourself in the mirror during a simple jumping drill, and keeping your eyes (and ears) out for two things:

1. Where is your knee going when you land? Does it dive inward? “Your knee should stay in line with your toe,” says Norcross.

Another tip: As you master those two pointers and make your jumping movements a bit more challenging, you might want to ask someone else to observe you—since it’s hard to check your knees and stick a landing at the same time.